Call to prayer

Meetings have been called in Sydney and Melbourne to offer prayers calling for the safe return of the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped by Hamas.

In Melbourne, the Zionist Council of Victoria together with COSV and RCV will co-host a Maariv and Tehilim evening TONIGHT – MONDAY JUNE 16 at 7.45pm at Caulfield Shule.

Tehilim will be read for the safety of/on behalf of the three abducted teenagers in Israel.

Please spread the word around to all the people you know, and please make every effort to attend.

In Melbourne, The Jewish Community Council of Victoria announced: “Together with the whole Jewish world, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) is shocked by the kidnapping by Palestinian terrorists of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel, the three Israeli Jewish teenagers as they were travelling home on Thursday. This is an act of outrage which must be condemned by the whole civilised world.

Nina Bassat AM, the President of the JCCV said, “With the people of Israel we pray for the boys, for their families and for their safe and speedy return.”

In Sydney, prayers will be recited at Moriah College at 7 pm.

The school;s spiritual head, Rabbi Benjy Levy said: “Sitting in Sydney Australia this week, it is important for us all to remember that these families are ultimately part of our collective family and their week will not begin as normal. As a community, we have decided to begin our week differently as well.

Tonight we will come together in hope, in prayer and in solidarity, shaking the heavens and showing the world that united we stand!

This short and powerful communal event will begin at 7pm in the Moshe Triguboff Auditorium. Parking will be available onsite through Gates 1 and 4 (York Road) for the first 150 cars. These entrances will be closed when the car parks are full and all pedestrian access will be via Gate 3 (Baronga Avenue).

The fabric of our nation is being put to the test and tomorrow night we will unite together as one community.From the Head of the Yeshiva the boys attended:

Message from Rav Steinsaltz:

The kidnapping of our students is a shocking, painful and frightening event. In a time and place that had seemed to us quiet and serene, we have been thrown into an event that we can do nothing to resolve.

Perhaps we are better off than in past times, when we were totally unable even to attempt rescue and deliverance. We are grateful to the Israel Defense Forces for all their efforts.

Still we, the families, the friends and the teachers of the kidnapped boys are standing with “idle hands” (Ecclesiastes 10:18.) All we have left now is to turn to our Father in Heaven and plead. We do not despair because we doubt our Heavenly Father. Rather we feel helpless because, “God is in Heaven and you are upon earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:1).

Thus, we can never know the extent our pleas and cries reach Heaven — and also have some effect here, on earth. What we can do – and this has been the Jewish way from time immemorial – is to add more holiness and learn more Torah. If we can, each of us should take upon ourselves something additional, no matter how small, especially and explicitly devoted for the sake and well-being of the missing boys.

Furthermore, we Jews have always been accustomed to reciting the Psalms, and we certainly ought to do more of this, especially two psalms that seem to me most relevant: Psalms 142 and 143, chapters that literally deal with our plight. We pray also for the safety of those who are working toward their rescue.

May it be God’s will that in their merit, and for the merit of their suffering, together with our prayers and good deeds, we shall soon see our boys returned to us, God willing, safe and sound.

Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz

Avigdor Kahalani, Israel’s greatest living war hero, visited Australia last yearon the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Avigdor reminded us that Israel’s existence cannot be taken for granted and that her frontline communities need our support.

Today, on Avigdor’s 70th birthday, he asks all of our brethren around the world to show solidarity with our missing teenagers and to pray for their safe return.

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